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Grandson of Woman Whose Body Was Stolen Speaks Out

A woman's body was stolen from a mausoleum at the Atlantic City Cemetery in Pleasantville last week. Police are searching for the people who did it, but have no leads. NBC10's Ted Greenberg spoke to the grandson of the woman who's body was taken. (Published Monday, July 30, 2012)

Police are searching for the people responsible for stealing a woman's body from a mausoleum at the Atlantic City Cemetery in Pleasantville last week.

Cemetery workers say the mausoleum's door was pried open and that the coffin that housed the body of Pauline Spinelli was empty inside.

“The person who came here came with the tools necessary to break into that,” Pleasantville Police Captain Rocky Melendez told NBC10's Ted Greenberg.

The empty coffin was discovered around on Friday, according to police.

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They say the body was stolen sometime between Thursday night and early Friday.

“You gotta think…they took her out of the box and threw her in the back of their car with them,” Spinelli's grandson Rocco told NBC10.

Spinelli was laid to rest inside the mausoleum with other family members in 1996. She was 98 years old when she died.

Police are working to determine if the theft of Spinelli's body may be connected to two others in Middlesex County. In 2010, the body of a 2-year-old was stolen and in 2011, a 72-year-old Joseph Lamela's body was taken, according to authorities

They're also investigating the possibility that Spinelli's remains were stolen for some sort of cult ritual.

"I don't want to see someone desecrate her body -- chop her up or make some sort of voodoo dust out of her," said Rocco Spinelli.

He just wants the thieves to bring his grandmom back, or else..."grandmom is going to haunt them for rest of their lives."